Arena of Heroes Preview

MOBA with a turn-based twist.

It seems like darn near everyone wants to get their MOBA on these days, meaning it’s going to take something special to stand out from the crowd. Sneaky Gamesmight have found the right hook for Arena of Heroes, since the game will offer turn-based real time and asynchronous cross-platform play when it launches on PC, Mac and iOS in the coming months.

Just to be clear, Arena of Heroes is keeping the most familiar facets of the MOBA genre fully intact. We’re still talking about arena battles between teams of players, known as Guardians in the game. Each side will have four Heroes who will have to defeat each other, automatically spawning AI Minions and static defenses in order to conquer the other team’s base.

The big difference is sure to perk up the ears of the reflex-challenged out there, yours truly included. The fighting unfolds in turns, putting a premium on strategy over quickness. Games can be continuous, with each side having several minutes to decide which actions they’d like to take, or truly asynchronous (and quite long) with every turn lasting 24 hours.

From the open beta, it appears the developers have concocted some pretty creative abilities that work within the turn-based structure, including some that affect the number of actions Heroes can take, and others that damage or debuff opponents wandering into the wrong area. The Heroes run the gamut from fantasy to sci-fi archetypes and seem like they will support a variety of play styles.

Other things players have come to expect from a MOBA are also present. Free Heroes will rotate every two weeks, with others available for purchase using in-game currency or real money. And if you care about your Hero’s good looks, you’ll be able to buy alternate skins for them too.

With Arena of Heroes currently in beta, the developers are working hard on asynchronous play since they expect the majority of players will make that their preferred mode. A MOBA you only need to check in once per day on your computer or tablet sounds good to me, and if you feel the same way, you can become a founder to get instant beta access or just keep an eye out for the expected Q2 release.